Artemis Moonley and the Cursed Chain
by sailormood
Summary: Artemis thought she was an ordinary girl until one day she finds out she's a witch! She's whisked off into a world filled with magic, potions and jelly beans that taste of plastic and she couldn't be having more fun until the appearance of a golden locket changes everything. (next gen) (also on wattpad!)
1. 1: Moonley

Artemis Lavender Riddle was not impressed.

Her best friend Heather Smith was a crying mess and she didn't know what to do. It was the last day of year six and she had been drowning in the tears of other people for over six hours. Honestly, she didn't understand: a week ago, everyone had been declaring how much they couldn't wait to leave but then today they had all been messes.

Primary school had always been too easy for Artemis and all she wanted to do was to go home and watch television. She was pretty sure they'd be showing a new episode of her favourite cartoon and wondered what animated adventures the characters would be getting themselves into now.

Alas... She had to deal with Heather and her tears. Heather who hadn't stopped crying from when they had walked to school in the morning to now when they were walking home in the mid-afternoon. Artemis didn't know what to do. She almost wished that Heather's lips would close entirely so she wouldn't have to deal with it any more. She practically willed for it to happen but much to her dismay, it didn't.

Sometimes strange things happened around Artemis when she wanted them to. This one time her mum had forced her to wear a pair of shoes three sizes too big to school. She just knew she would be the laughing stock of year four and kept on wishing that they would shrink. In the morning, they were her perfect size which meant that either her feet were now the size of boats or the shoes had actually shrunk. Her mum had been so baffled but let it slide because she didn't know how to explain it.

This other time she had gone on a school trip to a bird sanctuary just outside London. It was barely a 'sanctuary' considering the fact the birds were all caged up and looked pretty annoyed. During their lunch break all the cages mysteriously opened simultaneously and chaos erupted as the birds were free to make their great escape. Funny enough, every time she brought it up, everyone looked at her as if she were crazy and gently ignored her. It was as if they had all forgotten the incident entirely.

After depositing Heather at her block of flats across the estate, Artemis went home. Her mum wouldn't be home for another two hours or so, which meant she'd be alone to do what she'd like for a blissful while. She slung out her key and shoved it into the lock, whistling a low tune as she did so. Her foot kicked at a whole stack of letters as soon as she entered the door and she looked at them without any interest. They were all probably bills and the more there were, the crabbier her mum would be during dinner so their very presence would end up being a hassle to her anyway.

Not bothering to look at them, Artemis picked them up and put them on the side table before dumping her bag underneath the coat hooks. She made herself some toast and lounged in front of the television, feeling both accomplished and free.

A few hours later, her mum came home. Artemis saw her shadow through the living room door and took her feet off the sofa to avoid that argument. It was only a matter of moments before her mum would start complaining about something.

"Artemis! Could you please not keep your bag on the floor?"

"Sorry," She muttered in response and flicked the channel from cartoons to the news.

Her mum came into the room and turned on the lights, looking through the letters with disdain clear on her face. Her nose scrunched up and she stretched one letter out to Artemis.

"This is for you," She said, barely glancing at the front of it.

"Me?"

"It has your name on it," Her mum dropped it in her lap and opened a bill with a frown.

Artemis picked up the weird letter with her own little frown. The envelope was old fashioned and had bright green cursive handwriting on the style. She thought it was pretty but didn't take much time to admire it because her attention shifted to something a little peculiar.

"Mum," She started, peering at the letter with sheer confusion.

Her mother, who had just opened a window and was in the process of putting her hair up looked back at her. "Hm?"

"Why does it say my surname is Moonley?"

Her mum froze. Her hair dropped. And then all of a sudden, she was across the room and snatching the letter out of Artemis' hands. She blinked at the empty space that had suddenly appeared between her hands. Her mum had never ever moved that fast before, not even at the parents run during sports day.

"Mum?" She questioned. Her mother was now proceeding to tear the letter into thin little strips, avoiding a thick red seal that Artemis hadn't even noticed.

"Hm? Oh, don't worry dear, this is just spam mail. I didn't think they still sent it by bills but there we go!" Her mum let out a forced laugh.

"Why did it say Moonley though?" Artemis pulled on a particularly long strand of her thick dark curly hair, still not appeased. Something - something other than the fake laugh that followed after the excuse her mum gave her - was making her feel like there was more behind this.

Her mum simply shrugged. "Probably them mixing up your last name with someone else's. Yeah, that's what it was." She nodded to herself as if to reassure that she was right. "I mean, Moonley? What a name."

Artemis shrugged. She could tell her mum didn't want to talk about it anymore so she dropped it, put her feet up and watched the very boring news man with the bright tie talk about current affairs.

It happened two weeks into the summer holiday.

Artemis had all but forgotten about the strange letter her mum ripped up on her last day of school. Her days were consumed by waking up late, being lazy, eating snacks and sometimes playing in the park behind her building. Even her mum had relaxed a little.

One day, however, she was awoken very early by a sharp tap on the door. Artemis figured it was the post man and turned over in her bed. It probably wasn't that important anyway. But when the tapping didn't stop, she forced herself out of bed to go and yell at them. Artemis grumbled to herself all through the hallway and yanked the door open but nobody was there.

She peered at the empty balcony with confusion and then rubbed her eyes. Maybe someone was playing a joke on her.

Just as she was about to close the door, Artemis heard a loud and definitive hoot. She looked down and jumped back in surprise because there was a very fat barn owl sitting just outside the door and blinking its big eyes at her. It hooted, probably after realising that she was staring at it.

Artemis didn't know what to do.

"Uh, hello."

The owl looked at her blankly. She bent down until she was at knee level with it. It made a squawking sound and took a few steps back, revealing a padded old looking letter. She frowned. It was the same letter that she had received two weeks before.

Artemis picked it up and peered at her name on the front. It still said Moonley as her surname. Something was definitely off here.

"Is this for me?" She asked the owl. It almost gave her a sceptical look back, as if it were saying _'do you think I can speak?'_

She opened it up, still crouched down outside and took out the first letter. It was written in cursive green inked handwriting that made her eyes hurt slightly because it was so bright.

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

 **Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall**

 _Dear Miss Moonley,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Professor Fillius Flitwick_

 _Deputy Headmaster_

Hogwarts? Witchcraft and Wizardry?

Artemis shifted uncomfortably. Something was telling her that this wasn't actually a prank, and if it were, it was an extremely elaborated one. Personally, she didn't have the time or the effort to pull of something like this but people would be people, she concluded.

There was another two letters behind the first. Now sure that she was being pranked, she looked at the second letter. Just out of curiosity of course. She didn't actually believe it was real.

 _UNIFORM_

 _First year students will require:_

 _\- Three sets of black work robes_

 _\- Plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

 _\- Pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

 _\- A winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)_

 _Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags._

There was a list of books for the course with brilliantly farfetched titles such as _Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them_ or _A Beginner's Guide to Transfigurations_. Artemis had never heard of Newt Scamander or Bathilda Bagshot before but their names made them seem like very important people. After the books, there was an array of equipment that was necessary, ranging from a wand to a pewter cauldron. The very end said that she could bring a cat or a toad or an owl.

Wow.

Lastly, Artemis got to the third letter. It was the only one not written in bright green ink and the handwriting looked fairly boyish. It was still neater than hers but she found it kind of weird that it was handwritten and not typed up on a computer. She read it through one time and didn't absorb anything it said. Then she read it again and she almost fainted, right there on balcony in front of the owl who was pecking at her feet.

 _"Hello Artemis!_

 _This came in the post today and I figured it was because it didn't even reach you which is unlikely because Hogwarts is very good at tracking people down! You probably don't know what I'm nattering on about but well, it's me. Your dad! Your mum's probably already told you all about me and being a wizard but if she hasn't then hello! I'm a wizard, you're very much a witch after this letter and I'm very excited to tell you that you're in Hogwarts! Welcome to the family, Artemis! Well done on becoming a witch and getting into the best Wizarding school in the world - I'm biased of course but who wouldn't be?_

 _You'll need to send the owl back to me with a confirmation of your attendance at Hogwarts. If I get it, I'll be over this afternoon in order to sort things out with your mum. I imagine she'll be very excited and we'll get everything sorted tonight!_

 _Johnny Moonley_

 _(Dad)"_

This had to be some sort of joke.

Her mum had always said that Artemis' dad took a trip to Egypt and then died in a freak camel incident. It had been a tragedy. One that had made her burn all evidence of him in her mourning and move from Up North down to London. It sounded ridiculous but that's what she had been told and that's what she had grown up to believe.

So there Artemis sat on the balcony, the very epitome of shock and confusion, wearing only her pyjama shorts and a t shirt. The owl had flown up and was now perched on the balcony railings, looking around but not leaving.

Why was it even around? Weren't owls nocturnal? Didn't that mean that they would be sleeping now?

Artemis shook her head and stood up, picking up the letters and the envelope. She tapped at the red wax seal with her pinky finger and rushed to get a pen and paper. The only thing she could find in her hurry was a pink crayon and a post it note.

She figured that someone was actually making her the butt of an extensive joke and it wouldn't be too much of a hassle if she played along. She wrote in her small scratch _''I'll go to Hogwarts''_ on the post it note and stuck it on the front of the main letter then shoved it into the envelope rather roughly and somehow attached it to the leg of the owl.

"Send it back to whoever sent it." She said then paused. "If that makes sense."

The owl cooed, flapped its wings and went off.

At twelve midday, there was a knock on the door. Artemis had been dreading this really, because it all seemed too real yet unreal to be happening. After the whole drama, she had phoned her mum, who had picked up on the first ring. She told her mum what happened and she'd been silent over the line before declaring that she was coming home

Her mum had been oddly silent and pretended to read a magazine. Artemis was itching to ask an obvious question but decided it was for the best to keep quiet. She didn't want to add to the already building tension in the air.

When the knock had rung throughout the whole flat, her mum rushed to the door and yanked it open. Artemis also hurried but then stopped at the doorframe. She peeked around to see who was there.

There was a man with a big toothy grin on his face. He had short dark hair and was wearing a black suit with a deep purple tie, looking around the entrance with a very big smile on his face. All in all, he looked very shiny and untouched like a new toy.

"Hello!" He said enthusiastically. "Hi Rach!"

In response, Ms Riddle hit him over the head with the magazine. "You were supposed to disappear!"

He held his head. "Ow?" She hit him again and then yanked on his arm so he was in the hallway. Then she closed the door. They started speaking to each other in hushed tones about things Artemis couldn't quite catch.

Suddenly, they stopped and straightened up. They both looked towards where Artemis was watching and her eyes widened at the prospect of being caught. The man smiled while her mother folded her arms and pursed her lips.

"Hello Artemis!" He said. She came out from behind the safety of the doorframe and presented herself nervously.

"Hi," She said. "Who are you?"

He laughed out loud but she hadn't made a joke. "I'm your dad! Who else would I be?"

"Mum said my dad is dead and that he died on a trip to Egypt one month before I was born." She blurted out.

His eyebrow quirked and he looked at her mum, who rolled her eyes and gestured for him to answer her. "I'm pretty sure I witnessed your birth, darling."

Amazing.

"Mum?" Artemis asked.

Her mum rolled her eyes once more. "It's true." She bit her lip before continuing. "Your dad was... a little eccentric for my likings so we fled in the night."

Brilliant.

The two adults stared at her and then at each other for an extended period of time. She didn't know what to say or to do so she did what she did best.

"Does anyone want tea?"


	2. 2: Diagonally

A few days later, Mr Moonley surprised Artemis by showing up again. She had just finished dressing up after her daily shower and opened the door with disinterest. At first she had thought it was the postman delivering something her mum ordered but then she blinked back her surprise when she saw him standing there.

"Hi Artemis!" He said in his cheery voice.

"Hello?" She didn't know what to do.

On the day he had first come over, he and her mum had declined her offer for tea and sent her to her room while they 'discussed' her in great detail. After a long while, they had then let her come out and told her a lot of information that she had condensed to three simple points:

Firstly, she was a witch.

Secondly, Hogwarts was real and she was going to be a student there this autumn.

And thirdly (and most obviously if you asked her,) her dad was alive and would be taking an active role in the rest of her 'upbringing' from now on. That meant that she was going to stay with him a lot and learn more about the family history on his side.

Amazing.

He looked at her awkwardly and rubbed his palms together. "So, shall we get going?"

Artemis peered at him with confusion. "Going? Where?"

Mr Moonley (Artemis just couldn't bring herself to call him dad to his face. It all felt a little odd to her really) grinned. "Diagonally!" He said enthusiastically. At least, that's what she thought he said. He really was a fast speaker. "Didn't your mum say I'd be taking you to get your school stuff?"

She shifted around awkwardly on her two feet. "I already have my school stuff. Mum's bought me pens and a really big backpack and stuff."

He smiled at her gently. "That's when you were going to a muggle school. Now you're a certified You-Know-What, you have to get magical supplies!"

A You-Know-What?

"Oh, um alright." She said, pulling on her hair. "I'll just get my shoes on then."

Her dad waited patiently as she went to get a pair of socks and put her shoes on. Artemis picked up her keys and a jean jacket before heading outside into the cool summer's air. After she had closed the door and locked it, she felt like she needed to put the jacket back inside but didn't because she didn't want to create a fuss.

For a few seconds, they stood there and stared at each other. Artemis blinked at him and he blinked back before snapping out of his staring phase.

"Um, shall we?"

"Yes, sorry!" He said. Then he looked around, frowning slightly and then turning back to her. "You ready?"

She looked at him, bewildered. "Where are we going?"

Her dad put his arm out for her to take and she looped hers into the space he left, slightly confused. "We are going to... Diagonally!"

And suddenly, she was gone.

But she wasn't really gone. Artemis felt this strange tugging sensation in her stomach for a flat second before she felt intense pressure. Something was squashing her head yet pulling her ears off and she couldn't breathe because there was an iron fist pinching her throat. She wanted to scream because her eyeballs felt like they were being squeezed out of her head and she was pretty sure she was going to die.

Somewhere within her, she could sense her dad next to her and that gave her a little bit of hope; he wouldn't intentionally kill her would he? She was like… His child.

Suddenly, it was all over. Artemis felt her feet touch the floor; she hadn't realised that she was suspended in air through the whole experience but was thankful to be on the ground again. Her arm was still looped in her dad's and he was standing next to her as if what he had just pulled off was natural.

A familiar feeling of nausea forced its way up her throat and Artemis clutched her chest. She was ready to vomit but somehow she held it down.

"You okay there?" Her dad asked, seemingly concerned. She didn't speak for a while, quite certain that she would throw up if she did. He seemed to understand her reaction and waited patiently for her to calm down.

"That was... what was that?" She asked. At first she wanted to yell at him but then she noticed that they were in the middle of an alleyway just outside a busy street. Nobody was looking towards them even though they had just... magically appeared in the middle of nowhere.

"That was apparition!" He said simply like that explained everything. She just nodded. "Now, ready to go?"

Truthfully, Artemis didn't know where they were going but she nodded anyway. This was turning out to be quite a strange morning for her but she liked it. Everything was suddenly becoming more and more exciting and it was great.

They left the little alleyway and blended into the crowd of people walking down the streets. Her dad walked at a steady pace and repeatedly looked back at her as though he was afraid to lose her. She was pretty sure she could keep up; it's not like she wasn't going to be twelve in a matter of months.

He stopped abruptly on a street corner that Artemis didn't see at first. She had to focus her eyes repeatedly to see the building, but when she did, she saw it and stood back. It was a big brown bricked building that had a sign that said The Leaky Cauldron hanging underneath one of the many windows. She couldn't believe that she had missed it at first because it was so huge yet when she looked at the many people walking past it, their eyes seemed to just slide over the building as if it wasn't there.

"What's this?" She asked.

"This is the Leaky Cauldron!" Her dad said proudly. Artemis couldn't stop herself from giving him an exasperated look. "What?"

"I thought you said we were going to get my school stuff." She explained. He just laughed.

"Oh you wait and see. Come on now!" He marched into the building and she followed after him.

Inside, The Leaky Cauldron was brightly lit and the walls were filled with so many pictures. Artemis could see that there were many people dressed in long robes sitting down and laughing. Some had pointy hats on, some had amazingly bright coloured dressy outfits and others had beards that were perhaps even longer than her.

Her dad continued, waving at a few people who waved back at him and looked at her with both confusion and curiosity. She struggled to keep up, looking at everyone in absolute awe. Her dad stopped in front of the bar and Artemis almost bumped into his back but gathered her bearings just in time.

"Hi Hannah!" He called and a blonde smiley woman turned around at the counter.

"John! What brings you here today?"

He gestured towards Artemis who gave a slight smile. Hannah gasped.

"Who's this?! Your niece?"

Mr Moonley shook his head. "This is my daughter, Artemis Moonley."

Hannah's eyes bulged. "Oh! Well then! It is a pleasure to meet you, dear." Hannah gave her dad a pointed look and then went back to smiling at her. "So I take it that you're here for your Hogwarts things? Want me to open up the doors to Diagonally?"

What was this diagonal place that they wanted her to go to? She was very confused but it seemed that the question was pointed at her so she just nodded. Hannah kept up her smile and almost skipped towards a door leading outside.

They followed her, Mr Moonley seemingly excited and Artemis quite pensive. Hannah brought out a smooth stick and tapped the wall. For a few seconds, nothing happened.

And then the bricks started moving.

Artemis was very aware that she was being watched by the two adults but she couldn't help dropping her jaw to the ground as a whole winding street with towering shops and bustling people was revealed to her. Her dad clapped gleefully and chuckled. There were shops upon shops, little stalls and people flying on broomsticks in the open air like it was the most natural thing ever. To them it probably was!

Her dad thanked Hannah and guided Artemis forward a little bit. She picked her jaw off the floor and carried it down the street. When she turned back the wall had practically disappeared and become another street.

"Do you like it?" Mr Moonley asked.

"Is this the Diagonally place you were talking about?"

"What did you call it?"

"Diagonally."

"Oh Artemis." He seemed amused. "It's not Diagonally, it's Diagon- _Alley_."

"Well it's not much of an alley is it now?" Artemis grumbled to herself, embarrassed for getting it wrong. Her dad laughed out loud and patted her on the back.

"Come on, we've got to go to Gringotts." He said. She blinked up at him.

"What's Gringotts?"

He pointed in the direction of a big white building with majestic marble pillars that seemed to be lined with gold. Just up the steps were heavy looking wooden doors which were constantly being opened and closed due to the stream of people going in and out.

They made their way through the busy crowd, past stores that sold practically everything from robes to broomsticks to rats, and stopped in front of Gringotts. It was so big and prompted Artemis into wondering how they managed to fit this in London and only witches and wizards knew about it.

Her dad entered first which left her trailing after him. The whole building was decorated heavily with strange looking artefacts made of expensive looking materials. She stopped to look at a large molar with an inscription underneath that said it was from a recently deceased giant. Amazing.

"Come along Artemis!" Mr Moonley hollered once he had seen she stopped following him. He was just a little ways down from where she was standing and she hurried to catch up with him.

They reached a desk in which a head with elfish ears peeked over. Artemis tiptoed to see the face and blinked back in surprise. Aside from its pointy ears, it had a pinched face and was ladened with gold. It also was very dwarfish and looked down at her with disdain.

"We would like to visit the Moonley vault please!" Mr Moonley said enthusiastically.

The creature (Artemis felt very rude calling it a creature but didn't know what else to call it) stretched his hand out and her dad gave him a gold key. It looked at the key for a split second before nodding and going in the back. After a short while, it came back with another one who gestured for them to follow behind a gate.

Mr Moonley ushered Artemis through the gate in a very fatherly fashion before taking her hand and following the thing. The action seemed very natural to him and she had to admit that it was a little bit uncomfortable for her to be holding his hand.

"What is he?" she whispered to her dad. They had just entered what looked like an underground cave with a vast amount of open space in front of them.

"Mr Foxhorne here is a goblin!" He replied. Mr Foxhorne looked back and waved his small hand at her.

"She muggle born?" He asked Mr Moonley, who shook his head.

"Just raised a muggle is all," he explained. Artemis hated the fact that they were talking about her but she just shrugged it off. At least it wasn't in a negative way.

"What's a muggle?" She asked instead of fighting them. They were nearing a mine cart now. Her dad answered her as they began to climb into the cart. She peered over the cart and the nauseous feeling came back to her again.

"It's a word for non - magic folk. People who aren't at all magic."

She thought about this for a second. "So mum's a muggle then?" Her dad nodded and she saved that piece of information for later.

Mr Foxhorne whistled and the mine cart went into action. Artemis gripped the edged tightly until her knuckles were aching as they went up and down with speed and no safety. Every time she blinked they were in a new place. Next to her, her dad looked quite content and she didn't understand.

The cart halted to a stop abruptly in front of another big heavy door. Artemis looked around before stepping out of the cart after the adults. They unlocked the door and she rubbed her eyes out of shock because there were piles and piles of gold, silver and bronze looking coins just sitting there.

"Wow! What's this?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Funds for the whole family! We're quite a big one truth be told, and we all share a Gringott's vault." She assumed that her dad would be getting sick of all the questions she'd been asking all day but he didn't even seem fazed. They went in and took a copious amount of coins out then went back into the cart. Artemis swore she saw a dragon on their way back up but they were going so fast she couldn't tell if it were actually real or if her brain was playing tricks on her.

The bright lights back on the surface made it hard for her to see and she had to shield her eyes to see a metre in front of her. Unfortunately, this meant Artemis bumped into someone in her temporary blindness.

"Oh, sorry." She said loudly enough for the stranger to hear. It was a boy, obviously teenaged with dark blonde hair and almost black eyes. He gave her half of a glance before storming away.

Artemis fumed slightly for his easy dismissal of her but did not say anything. Instead she watched him give the key to the goblin and then turned back and hurried after her unobservant dad.

They reached the outside of Gringotts and she looked down the grand steps at the many people bustling around Diagon Alley. All these people were magical, she realised, and they had been a part of a hidden community even longer than she had been born. She had heard about magic in the story books she had read in primary school but that's exactly what it had been; stories. Magic hadn't been real to her until very recently when her dad had made her vanish right in front of her mum's small flat and appear here. This was a world that she didn't know, that she couldn't even begin to understand and would probably make her question everything that she had ever even known.

"Now, shall we go get your robes first?!" Her dad asked.

"Robes?"

"School, home, party," he sang as if it were a jingle. "Madame Malkins has robes for all your wizarding needs!"

"Even bathrobes?"

"They do have a kitchen and bathroom robe section! Think we should get one for your mother?"

Artemis imagined her mum wearing one of the robes that the people in Diagon Alley were wearing and shivered. That was an image she didn't think she'd like to see on a day - to - day basis.

"No, she's good."

He laughed at her expression and then clapped his hands together. "Off we go, then!"

Once again, they joined the stream of people until they got to the mysterious Madame Malkin's. Her dad ushered her in and went up to the counter where a woman with red lipstick and blue hair was making something with a stick.

At first Artemis listened to her dad chat with the woman (who he called Malvina) before her mind wandered. They really weren't getting anything done so she decided that she would go and look for her robes herself.

Artemis nodded along with the conversation for a moment even though she really didn't know what Quidditch was, backing away as she did so. Soon, she found herself surrounded by an array of black and blue robes, labelled 'funeral'. It was all a bit morbid really.

She turned around and made her way through the racks of robes, peering at the signs telling her what section she was in with interest. There were robes for naming ceremonies, birthday parties, Christmas carolling... everything. It took a while for her to become focused on the task at hand and find the rack that had robes for Hogwarts.

Artemis rubbed the material between her finger and thumb, looking at it with interest. There was a shield emblem on the front that had a badger, raven, lion and snake in separate sections on it and underneath the shield, the word Hogwarts was written in bright gold. They looked pretty fancy.

"Oh! Are you a new student at Hogwarts?"

Startled, Artemis looked up and came to face with bright green eyes. She took a step back but bumped into someone behind her. Upon turning around, she was met with the exact same green eyes and audibly gasped. She looked in the first direction and blinked widely at the grinning girl with dark brown hair and green eyes before realising what was going on.

Twins.

"I think we got her, Emora!" The first one said laughing delighted. Her sister just shrugged and looked away.

Artemis looked at the two of them: both had tanned skin and shoulder length dark brown hair. They were identical, save the expressions on their faces; the one named Emora was scowling slightly while her sister had a natural grin on her face. She stuck her hand out at Artemis.

"Hi! I'm Amoris Plena!"

"Artemis Rid - Moonley," She corrected and shook her hand. The brunette girl just smiled at her before introducing her sister.

"This is my younger twin, Emora Plena."

"Younger by a mere three minutes." Emora reiterated coolly. She folded her arms and looked Artemis straight in the eye. It was uncomfortable at first but Artemis didn't want to look cowardly when she was pretty sure the girl was trying to intimidate her so she stuck her hand out and looked her back in the eye. "Moonley, did you say your surname was?"

"Yes."

She stuck her nose up. "Huh."

"So! Are you starting Hogwarts this year?!" Amoris redirected her attention and she nodded. "Great! We're going into our third year in September and I for one cannot wait."

"Oh." Amoris beamed down at her.

Just as the bubbly girl was about to say something, Artemis heard her name being called and looked around. It must've been her dad because almost nobody else knew who she was. Biting her lip slightly, she picked up three of the robes and excused herself from the twins (one of which was very upset to see her go, as though they had been friends for years) and made her way to the front of the store where her dad was peering over in a feeble attempt to look for her. He clutched his chest on seeing her.

"Thank Merlin!" He said. "Where did you go?"

"I figured you were busy so I went to get the robes myself." She explained. He still looked worried which made her feel bad because she thought he wouldn't care that much. "Sorry," She apologised.

He sighed. "It's okay, dear. Let's go pay for these, okay?"

They went back to the register where Malvina was filing her nails and bought the robes with ease. Artemis waved at the two twins who appeared out of thin air (again) just to say goodbye. She wondered what they were doing for so long in the store but figured it was none of her business anyway.

The shopping list gradually got shorter as they went along: first they went into a store called Flourish and Blotts to pick up all the books the letter had told her to buy, then they went into an apothecary to buy the strangest ''potion ingredients'', including horned slugs and dusted rat tails (both of which Artemis couldn't imagine herself holding without throwing up). Around lunchtime they stopped to get ice cream at a strategically placed parlour designed to lure in tired shoppers before heading out and getting a pewter cauldron and astronomy supplies.

They passed an owlery a few times but it took a while for Artemis to decide she wanted an owl. She tapped on the cauldron to alert her dad since he was ready to walk right past the store.

"Dad," the word sounded foreign in her mouth but she continued "Can I get an owl?" Artemis had always wanted a pet but her mum never let her get one because she didn't like them - not even puppies. Yep, she was sure her mum was barely even human.

"Oh! Okay, sure." He looked up at the sign that said 'Eeylops' Owl Emporium in block capitals. They went inside.

It was very dark and slightly cold in the store. The only things she could hear were hooting and the occasional flap of wings. Artemis peered around and tried to find her way through the darkness, bumping into tables and hearing angry hisses from owls all around. She felt very embarrassed but didn't say anything because her dad seemed very used to the surroundings.

"What type of owl do you want?" He whispered. She shrugged.

"Something small that can carry letters like yours?"

He let out a quiet chuckle. "All the owls can do that! Just choose one and I'll get it for you, okay?"

Suddenly feeling very pressured, Artemis spun around and quickly walked to a random owl. It wasn't too big, roughly half the size of one of those mini rulers. She thought it was quite cute with its brownish feathers and gold ringed eyes and figured that it would be a fun friend to have.

"What about this one?" She asked, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

Her dad peered at the sign. "An elf owl... She's quite small, isn't she?" She shrugged again and he looked at it. The owl looked back at him curiously before turning away and continuing on with her day. "Oh, why not!"

They picked up the cage it sat in and went to the front desk where the teenaged attendant exchanged their cash and asked if they'd like some owl supplies along with her. Along with a cage, they bought enough owl food and snacks to last until Artemis went to school. Mr Moonley assured her that when she got to Hogwarts, there would be owl keepers who would take good care of her pet.

"So what are you going to call her?" He asked. Artemis shrugged.

"I don't really know,"

Mr Moonley made a thoughtful pose, looking similar to The Thinker but in an upright position. "What about Neoma?"

"Neoma?"

"It means new moon! Since we're keeping up the theme of moon's here, why not extend it to your small owl?"

Artemis looked at the owl in her cage. She was sitting perched on the stand, looking straight ahead with large glassy eyes and didn't seem at all affected by the sudden onset of light.

"Sure, why not." She decided in the end. Neoma wasn't that bad of a name. And her dad was right; she might as well continue the moon trend. He clapped, which was difficult considering all the things he was carrying.

It was just past two thirty when they went to the last store. It was named Ollivander's and though Artemis didn't know what it was for but the old sign that said it opened in 382BC told her it was pretty important.

"This is the best part, Art," Her dad said. She wondered who ''Art'' was before she realised that he had nicknamed her. Oh dear. "This is where you get a wand!"

"A wand?"

"Yep!" He held the door to the store open for her. "Watch your step now."

Artemis tripped up anyway but styled it out as a skip. Her dad laughed and attempted to disguise it as a cough. She pretended not to hear him.

The store was filled with long oblong shaped boxes, towering ominously over them and reaching the high rise roof. Some of the boxes covered the windows which left the front room looking slightly yellow in the superficial lights. There was a wooden desk in the centre with a single bright blue flower in a vase on top of it.

"Huh," Artemis said. "You said I get a wand here?"

"What did you think was in all these boxes?" He asked. She shrugged.

A man waltzed up to the desk from behind some of the boxes and smiled at them. "Here for a wand?"

Mr Moonley took control. "Yes, my daughter here is starting her first year at Hogwarts in just under a month." He explained.

The man gave Artemis a knowing look, one she didn't know how to reply to. "Ah! I'm Wyndon Ollivander, here to help your wand choose you!"

She couldn't help herself. "Don't you mean help me choose my wand?"

He laughed at her as if she had said the silliest thing in the whole entire world. "Nope. The wand chooses the wizard. It would do you good to remember that."

"Um, okay." She said. Her dad patted her shoulder and when she looked up at him, he made a face at Mr Ollivander, who was rifling through some of the elusive boxes. Artemis snickered.

"Now... Try this." He brought a wooden stick out of a box, similar to the one that the shop attendant had been using in Madame Malkin's. "Twelve inches, ash wood and unicorn hair core."

She held the wand and felt it vibrate unnaturally in her hands.

"Try giving it a swish, dear." Mr Moonley prompted.

Feeling silly, Artemis swished her hand in the air. A blue spark shot out of the wand, almost hitting Mr Ollivander in the face but he ducked in time. The wand went cold in her hands.

"Maybe not." Mr Ollivander said and she gave it back to him.

He then proceeded to give her another three wands, described them and made her swish them in the air. Each wand got worse with each flick and Artemis began to wonder if she was a defect wizard. That would explain why no wand ''chose'' her.

Mr Ollivander sighed, fed up. "Okay, twelve and a quarter inches, thestral tail hair core, wood from a holly tree and very supple."

"I didn't know you could make wands with thestral tail hair." Mr Moonley commented.

"We can make wands out of virtually any animal, sir." Mr Ollivander replied in a dry tone. "Though we've only made two successful thestral tail hair core wands as you can imagine it is difficult to actually create the wand."

He handed her a smooth cream coloured wand and waited for her to do the customary swish in the air. Artemis liked the feel of this one; it hummed gently in her hand and felt slightly warm. She did a swish and a flick because she was feeling fancier than usual and to her surprise, a green lily appeared next to the blue flower in the vase. The wand felt comfortable underneath her grasp and Artemis was suddenly filled with the urge to protect it at all costs.

"Perfect!" Mr Ollivander said, shocking her out of her protective state. "That'll be nine galleons then."

He handed Mr Moonley a box and retrieved the galleons with a fake smile on his face. Mr Moonley gave the rectangular box to Artemis who put her wand in it and was promptly ushered out of the store.

"Well then," he started once they were a safe distance from the store. "He was very pleasant, wasn't he?"

"If by pleasant you mean as sour as a lemon then sure," she replied which made him laugh.

They made their way up the busy shopping street, talking idly about the day. Mr Moonley began to tell her the story of how he got stuck in a fireplace while trying to do this thing called Floo. Apparently, it took three wizards and an owl to pull him out; it had even made it into the wizard newspaper.

Amazing.

"Well, shall we go?" He asked once they reached the Leaky Cauldron.

Artemis stomach churned as she remembered the apparating thing that he had done to get them here but she hid it and nodded instead. He put his elbow out for her to take and she grabbed it tightly and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that it'll help the sensation that was about to happen.

"Off we go!" Mr Moonley said quite loudly and she felt her ears pop and the tugging sensation.

Unfortunately, her eyes being closed didn't help her feel better.

At all.


	3. 3: Hogwarts Express

Artemis's mum woke her up on the morning of August 31st which was odd because her mum always just left in the morning, considering she was old enough to take care of herself. You know, being eleven and all.

"Artemis dear!" She shook her vigorously until she almost fell out of her bed. "Artemis!"

She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?" She asked her mum who was holding her wand box with a sceptical expression.

"It's eight forty five!" She put the box down and gave her a disapproving look.

"I don't understand… why did you wake me?"

Her mum pouted slightly. "Well, it's the last I'll see of you until Christmas! I just wanted to say goodbye before I go off to work."

Artemis peered at her as though she had gone crazy. "What do you mean, 'last you'll see of me?' What about later tonight?"

Ms Riddle frowned. "Hadn't I told you? Your dad's coming to pick you up and will be taking you to his house just for tonight. I won't be able to take you to get the train to school because I couldn't get the day off so he said he'll take care of it."

She nodded, partially confused. However, it was too early in the morning for her to argue with her mum so instead she gave her a tight hug and said goodbye.

Artemis spent the day packing up all her supplies. Her dad had lent her an old fashioned looking trunk and then done a spell on it to make it look much more modern. She thought it looked pretty neat and stuck a few stickers on it just to jazz it up a little more.

In the late afternoon, her mum called the house phone, telling her once and for all to be good and not to make anything blow up while she was away. Artemis had never been particularly close with her mum but the phone call made her chest ache slightly; they weren't going to see each other for a very long while and it made her feel slightly uncomfortable to think about going a day without her mum nagging her for something.

Mr Moonley came to pick her up a few minutes past five. Artemis had just eaten most of the food in the house due to boredom and nearly jumped off the sofa when she heard his over excited knock on the door.

"Hiya Artie!" He said upon her revelation. She felt her eyebrows quirk upwards at this new nickname she had been assigned.

"Er, hello." She said. He looked around the hallway and she let him in, trailing after him slightly unsure what to say. "Mum said you're taking me to your house."

He nodded. "Yep! I like the stickers on your trunk, they make it look snazzy."

Snazzy.

Amazing.

"So, shall we get going? Where's your owl... Neoma, right?"

She nodded. "She's uh, she's in the kitchen, eating a snack."

He stroked his semi - goatee thoughtfully. "Are you hungry?"

Artemis thought about her full and slightly protruding belly. "Not at all. Why?"

"I was going to suggest we go get ice cream in Diagon before going home." He proposed. "We may still be able to go, I know I have two stomachs for ice cream but I don't know about you..."

She bit her lip. Ice cream _was_ her favourite dessert and she was sure that there was still a _little_ space left for some.

"Well, why not?" She replied coolly. Her dad grinned at her and gestured towards the door.

Kings Cross Station.

Artemis had been here a few times before, but never had she ever heard a train leaving for Hogwarts in her life. She was beginning to think this was all an elaborate dream.

"Dad?" She tugged on the sleeve of his white shirt nervously.

"What's wrong?" He asked, suddenly attentive. It startled Artemis at first because she wasn't used to people being this aware of her but she settled before answering him.

"Where can we get a train to Hogwarts?"

He looked at his watch before replying. "Actually, dear," He squinted at the time. "You'll be boarding the train to Hogs _meade_ in exactly twenty four minutes!"

Well that cleared that right up (!).

She thought she'd try again. "Um, you said last night that I'll be departing from Platform 9 and ¾'s."

"Yes, I did!" He started walking briskly, pushing her trolley along at a fast pace. Artemis practically had to run to keep up with him until he decided to sit her on her trunk and push the both of them along.

"Where's Platform 9 and ¾'s?" She asked when she was being pushed along at quite a fast pace. It was actually quite fun and reminded her of the dragon ride at LEGOLAND.

"It's approximately three quarters in between platform nine and platform ten!"

Amazing.

They were fast approaching platform nine and ten and Artemis was beginning to get antsy at his wishy washy answers. She was, in all honesty, ready to fight the logic of her dad but kept silent because it seemed there were a lot of things that she didn't know and had learned over the past two months, the first being that witches and wizards were real. Her dad had also been reading a newspaper at the Ice Cream Parlour yesterday evening about an escaped Werewolf from a place named Azkaban, so there was that.

He stopped hastily behind a ginger woman and black haired man who were surrounded by three kids; a girl and two boys. Artemis saw with delight that the two boys both had trunks that had 'Hogwarts'printed on the side under the handle.

The older looking boy let out a yell and rushed forward. She winced when she saw he was going straight for the wall and closed her eyes thinking about the upcoming impact but it never came. Instead, when she reopened her eyes, the ginger woman and her daughter were disappearing into the wall.

"What's going on?!" She whispered up to her dad. He just smiled at her.

"You ready to get to Platform 9 and ¾'s, Artie?"

She shrugged. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do any more.

Mr Moonley took her shrug as a yes and started running through the wall. Artemis felt a shift in the pressure momentarily as they melted through the wall and appeared suddenly on a whole different platform. _Everything_ had changed:

There was a big red steam train on the tracks, making that chugging sound that she remembered from childhood television shows. The wall had a large sign that said _9'¾_ that made her feel slightly giddy. People were crowding the edges of the platform and children were boarding it, saying goodbye, waving and just generally milling around.

"Wow! Look at all of that!" She exclaimed and her dad let out a laugh. A woman next to him looked at them.

"Muggle born?" She asked.

"Half-blood." He explained. "Raised as a muggle though!"

The woman nodded as if it all made sense now. Mr Moonley proceeded to push Artemis further down the platform.

"So, this is the Hogwarts Express?" Artemis said.

"Yes it is, and you will be boarding it in the next... sixteen minutes!" His hand touched his face. "Goodness, I've got to get your bags on the train before you go!"

"I don't mind waiting here," She piped up and got off the trolley, taking Neoma and her backpack filled with coins named galleons and a book to read on the train. Mr Moonley gave her a sceptical look.

"You sure?"

She shrugged and then nodded. He bit his lip, looked her up and down and then rushed away. "I'll be back in a little bit!" He hollered and she just shook her head.

Artemis hoisted her little bag up on her shoulder and stepped closer to the train. Everything was bustling with activity around her and even though she wasn't part of any groups, she had never felt so connected to people before. Her wand was in her pocket and she could swear it was vibrating slightly with excitement. She felt quite proud of the fact she had insisted on wearing her robes to Kings Cross instead of changing because there were many other people wearing robes too and she didn't stick out like a sore thumb any more.

Her eyes wandered across the platform and she saw a boy with platinum blonde hair which was slicked back with a copious amount of hair gel. His skin was practically translucent and from what she could see, his eyes were very light and almost beady as they surveyed the current surroundings. All in all, he was the epitome of the word pale.

He was being babied by an older woman she guessed to be his mum but he seemed to be enjoying it, receiving the kisses with pride. A much taller, and unbelievably paler man was standing behind him, his hand on the boy's shoulder and his lips seemed to be moving as though he was telling him something. The paler man looked very important, Artemis noted. She wondered if he was.

Just as she was going to look away, the boy looked over to her. His mum stopped coddling him and he looked her up and down, sneering as he did so. Artemis decided she wasn't having it and folded her arms, sending back the exact same expression as his parents turned away to talk to each other. His already pinched nose became all the more pinched as she did so until eventually, he stuck his tongue out at her.

She didn't know what to do but she could feel her mouth involuntarily curve up into a smile. He smiled back and was mouthing something that she couldn't quite catch so she shrugged.

"Artie!" Someone, her _dad,_ called. She hadn't figured out why he liked calling her Artie over Artemis but left it alone. "Sorry about that!" He said and patted her on her head, causing her hairband to snap.

She sighed. It had been her last one, the extra ones (and the extra _extra_ ones (Artemis had very unruly curly hair and broke hairbands at the most random times.)) being shoved in the bottom of her bag and she wasn't bothered to get them out now.

"Whoops, sorry! Let me fix that." Mr Moonley picked the snapped band up and whipped out his own wand. The day before he had told her it had unicorn hair core and was very, _very_ , bendy.

"Reparo!" He said and the hairband fixed back into place. He handed it back to Artemis who was beginning to feel quite stressed at all these new things and tied up her hair.

"Thanks," She said, blinking.

"No problem!" He rubbed his palms together. "Now, let's get you on the train, it's leaving in five minutes or so and I don't want you to miss it."

She nodded and looked around, unsure what to do next. Suddenly Artemis was scooped up into a big hug by her dad. It had been unexpected in the least, considering she was just about to walk away and give him a wave from a window or something. After a few seconds, she awkwardly hugged him back, patting him a few times on the back.

"Write a lot, okay? I'll send you sweets if you keep me updated," He said and she agreed. Artemis had found that she quite liked wizard sweets, especially one named Fizzing Whixybees that made her mouth feel like it was bubbling.

Artemis gave her dad one last pat on the back before picking up Neoma and getting on the train through one of the entrances. She waved back at her dad before entering and finding an empty train carriage to sit in by herself.

A few minutes after she had settled, the train's horn let out a loud sound and they started moving. Artemis looked through the window and saw her dad peering at her side of the train. They caught each other's eye and waved at each other until he became a small speck on the fast disappearing platform.

The city turned into the countryside and she sat back in her seat. Neoma hooted a few times before closing her eyes and staying very still in the little nest in her cage. Artemis watched her for a few seconds before opening up her book and reading a few pages.

That didn't last very long however because there was a short knock on the door to her carriageway when she got to page six. When she looked up, she was slightly surprised to see the blonde boy she had stuck her tongue at earlier standing there and examining the carriage.

"Are you a first year?" He asked when he realised that she had seen him.

"Yeah?" She replied, closing her book slightly.

"Same here," He straightened up and smiled at her.

"That's fantastic," She said, not knowing what else to say. The two of them just stared at each other for a while before he cleared his throat.

"Hey, do you want to come and sit with me and my friends? You look kind of... lonely in here and the lighting is better in our carriage anyway." He said in half a breath. She blinked, slightly overwhelmed.

"Could you like, say that again?" She asked.

"Want to come sit with me and my friends?" He said much slower. "We're friendly, sort of. Well, Nate isn't but Nate's not that nice to anybody so it's not a big deal. And Calypso's a bit of a monster but you'll survive. And Vicky… is Vicky… She's alright sometimes."

She looked around the small empty carriage she was in and shrugged, picking up her small backpack and her book. "Why not?"

He looked relieved. "Fantastic!" He said and clapped his hands. "I told my friends that you looked alright but they figured you were a third year Hufflepuff or something."

She didn't know what a Hufflepuff was supposed to look like so she shrugged in response. He waited for her until she was done packing up and they went off.

Artemis hadn't realised it when she was sitting down reading, but the train was pretty lively. Children were walking up and down doing everything from talking to chasing toads in the passageway. She couldn't stop herself from staring at everything because it was all so new. She wanted to get her own wand out and start practicing spells too, even though she didn't know any.

"What's your name?" Her new acquaintance asked. She didn't want to overshoot and call him a friend _just_ yet, he might as well be the devil's spawn for all she knew.

"Artemis Moonley," She replied and looked back at him. His eyebrows shot up.

"No way!"

"What?" She asked, looking behind her just in case one of the big ugly toads was going to jump her.

"You have a constellation name!" He gasped and his eyes begun to sparkle like the stars. Artemis thought it ironic considering it seemed they were talking about constellations.

"Yeah, I do. Do you?"

He nodded. "My name's Scorpius Malfoy. I think it's after the Scorpio star sign but I dunno."

"I'm a Scorpio," Artemis said idly. He gasped.

" _No way!"_

"What?"

He put his hands to his chest quite dramatically. " _I'm_ a Scorpio."

Artemis couldn't help but laugh at his gesture. He put his hand up for a high five and she gladly reciprocated, taking an instant liking to Scorpius Malfoy.

They spoke about a little bit of everything before they reached his carriage. Artemis was in the middle of describing her first apparition experience and he was laughing when she said she felt like she was being eaten by a dog. He opened the door and the people inside stopped speaking immediately, making her feel as awkward as hell.

Scorpius wiped his eyes "Everyone, this is Artemis." He introduced. "Artemis, this is Calypso, Vicky and Nate."

Then he went to sit down by the other boy, who she assumed was called Nate.

"Hey there." Artemis said and stood idly for a few seconds before the two girls shuffled away from each other and patted the seat in between them in almost perfect sync. She sat down in the space and gave a wan smile, feeling awkward. Maybe she should've stayed alone after all.

"I'm Calypso." One of the girls said loudly. She had strawberry blonde hair, beady blue eyes and a slightly... pug like nose that Artemis couldn't stop staring at. She knew it was rude to stare but... why did she have a pug nose? Why? "Calypso Nott,"

"And I'm Vicky! Scorpius and I are cousins!" Her friend said. Apart from the fact Vicky also had very pale skin, they barely looked alike. Artemis was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to discern they were related if she hadn't said.

"Who are your parents, Artemisia?" Calypso asked.

"It's Artemis." She corrected. "My-"

"Oh, so that isn't short for Artemisia?"

"If it were, I would've introduced myself as Artemisia." She said smoothly but really, she was losing her patience. "Anyway, my dad's name is John Moonley and my mum is muggle. At least, I think she is,"

"Ah. So you're a _half-_ blood."

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm full of blood at this point." Artemis snapped, straining to keep her voice civil but she wanted to fight, especially when Calypso upturned her nose, told her not to be silly and practically looked down at her as though she were the scum of the Earth.

As they began to talk, Artemis could tell she wasn't going to like Calypso particularly much. Their personalities didn't... mesh well, and she was beginning to wonder how people ever put up with her. Vicky on the other hand was quite alright, though she seemed to act a little bit like a sheep around her friend, following whatever she had to say. It was a bit of a shame really.

After almost an hour of speaking to the two of them, Artemis was desperate to leave the carriage. Their conversations reminded her a lot of primary school; annoying, kind of simple and quite long. Scorpius had been preoccupied by his own friend, Nate, and had sent her exasperated glances every now and then, as though he felt her pain. He probably did.

"I'm going to find a rest room." She announced mid-sentence, stood up and promptly left the room.

It was actually a relief to be out of there. Though she had been included in the conversation, Artemis had been feeling a little left out. Especially when they started to talk about the best spells that their parents had ever casted. What was she supposed to reply with - the time her mum made brilliant spaghetti? It had tasted magical, she must admit.

Artemis was so deep in thought that she didn't watch where she was going and ended up walking straight into someone.

"Oh, sorry," She said, rubbing her head. They had head-butted each other and the person was doing the same thing.

"My fault, wasn't looking where I was going," he squeaked and looked at her with violently red cheeks. He had bright green eyes that were hidden under floppy and unruly dark hair. His nose was slightly snubbed and he had a small amount of freckles dusted across his nose.

"Yeah same," She said, eyeing him up. He looked around before nodding and walking quickly down the path she had just come from. She shrugged; maybe he was shy?

Whatever it was, Artemis realised that she didn't care that much. She went and found a rest room, where older students were chatting by the mirrors about the up and coming year.

Quietly, Artemis went to wash her hands and then looked at her face in the mirror. She looked normal, albeit a little tired and perhaps annoyed. Her mum had always told her she always looked annoyed though so she couldn't particularly tell if it was her normal face or whether she had head-butted that boy.

When she got back to the carriage room where everyone was in, the whole dynamic had changed. Nate was sitting with Calypso and Vicky and Scorpius were talking animatedly about what seemed to be cake. Whatever it was, she went to join them because it seemed like the more pleasant conversation so she sat with them and adlibbed her own favourite desserts when she could.

A woman with a cart full of sweets came rolling around after Scorpius had said proudly that he was in love with everything chocolatey.

"Did you magic that to happen?" Vicky asked him, awestruck. He brushed imaginary lint off his shoulder smugly.

"Probably. You know, that Malfoy charm probably lead her here." He said airily.

Artemis wanted to laugh but since he seemed dead serious, she settled for snickering in the corner. Of course he heard her though and sent her a semi - glare.

All the sweets seemed strange to her; there were chocolate frogs, sugared quills and every flavour beans. Her new favourite, fizzing whixybees were there too. Artemis had never had a sweet tooth but she was tempted enough to buy one of everything and did.

"Feeling rich, are we?" Scorpius dug his elbow into her side.

"Nah, just curious. I've never tried a chocolate frog before," She stated.

He gawked at her but she shrugged and opened the box. Out of it jumped a frog which was made of solid milk chocolate and she just about managed to catch it before it made its great escape through the window.

"Why is it moving?" She asked, alarmed. From across the carriage, Calypso laughed.

"Oh _Artemis!_ You couldn't expect it to stay here forever could you?" She tittered. "Half-bloods," She said towards Nate who sighed sympathetically as though Calypso was dealing with a five year old child. Artemis narrowed her eyes and was about to say something but Scorpius distracted her.

"This is your first chocolate frog, right? What card did you get?"

"Card?"

"Bottom of the box!"

She gave him the frog carefully and shook out the box. Out dropped a purple card, with the name _'Harry Potter'_ on it.

The picture was moving, but not like a holographic image where it moved when she moved it. It was moving like a film picture. Mr Potter was waving and then wiping his glasses. He had messy hair that he constantly attempted to pat down but it stayed messy. She thought he looked a lot like the man who was in front of her in Kings Cross Station and also the boy she head-butted just a while back. Perhaps they were related?

 _'Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Member of The Order of the Phoenix and Leader of Dumbledore's Army'_

He seemed important. Artemis wondered who Voldemort was before resolving that she'd ask her dad and not anyone here. Calypso might make fun of her again for being a 'half-blood', whatever that meant.

"Artemis, can I eat this frog before it bites me?" Scorpius said, still struggling with the frog in his hand. She tossed the card aside.

"Go ahead, I don't really like chocolate that much."

He did a double take, gasped and then peered at her.

"Are you human?" He asked, his voice low.

"I think so? Why?"

Scorpius tittered. "How can you not like chocolate 'that much'? That's like saying you don't like breathing, which is obviously a lie because all you're doing now is breathing."

She blinked at him a few times. "When was it ever this deep?" Artemis asked. She looked to Vicky for help but she was staring out of the window with a dreamy expression on her face.

"It was _always_ this deep." He folded his arms, the frog still somehow trapped underneath one. "You know what, Artemis?"

"What?" She asked, unsure of what he was going to say next.

"My main goal this year is to make you fall in love with chocolate."

Amazing.

"Good luck?" She said. He grinned and then snapped the frog in two. Artemis felt kind of bad for it, but it had stopped moving so there was that.

Scorpius gave her one half. "Dig in, friend!" He said and then finished his half with a few quick and extraordinarily neat bites. She finished hers a lot slower, but had to admit it tasted quite nice.

Next they shared a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, which were jelly beans that had almost every flavour ever from grass cuttings to paper. Artemis resolved that she would never eat an every flavour bean ever again, especially when she tasted the cotton one.

Scorpius proved to be very funny, a little dramatic but an all-round okay person. He was a bit sarcastic and swapped insults with Nate at a few points during the journey but apparently it was all in good humour. Nate hadn't formally introduced himself to Artemis yet but she remembered what Scorpius had said; he wasn't particularly nice to anyone, so she didn't really care too much about it.

After a few hours, the train came to a stop and the corridors became even livelier than usual.

"Ooh, look!" Vicky pointed out of the window. "We're here!"


	4. 4: Sorting Hat

It took ages for them to get off the train: everyone seemed in a hurry to get out and there was so much pushing and shoving. Scorpius had told countless people not to touch his hair and Artemis was feeling a little claustrophobic by the time their feet touched the platform.

Retrieving their bags took no time at all compared; it was like a spell was put on them to make it easy to find. Artemis was relieved to see her owl Neoma was quite undisturbed in her cage too.

Just as she had found her new 'friends', a loud noise made her jump. It was high and tinny, like a whistle and she looked around to find the source of it. An extremely tall but beefy man was holding a big recorder. He had very long brown hair which was streaked with grey and she could barely see his face, save for his big brown eyes.

"FIRS' YEARS!" He bellowed all of a sudden. "FIRS' YEARS FOLLER' ME!"

Nate's face scrunched up. "Is he a giant?"

"Half, by the looks of it," Scorpius corrected and then picked up his trunk. "Think he's calling us." Then, proudly, he swaggered over to where the big man was standing and accumulating a group. Artemis started gathering her stuff and was planning on following them.

Nate shook his head. "Think Scorp's parents are going a little crazy." He said. Artemis was standing behind him so he didn't receive her super effective glare. "He's gone a bit soft when it comes to muggle or tainted things, don't you think?"

"My aunt's gone rather bonkers when it comes to blood purity. You'd think she wasn't once a Greengrass." Vicky said.

Calypso sighed as though it was the saddest thing. "Merlin help him," She said.

Feeling rather put off, Artemis pushed past the three of them and followed after Scorpius.

"Oh, hi Artemis!" He said when he realised they were walking together. They stopped and stood in the group near Hagrid and he surveyed the lot of them. "There aren't that many of us are there?"

Artemis did a little headcount of her own. So far, there were only about thirty people around the half giant man and the rest of the students were walking off the platform in the other direction. "Yeah, I guess so. There were more people in my year group at Primary School than here and I went to a tiny school."

He gasped. "You actually went to a muggle school?! Wow!"

"Well, I _am_ half muggle?"

"Yeah, but most half-bloods and purebloods or kids with muggle born parents are taught at home, or in groups together. It's why most of us know each other." He explained. "I've only ever met one witch who was taught in a muggle school, which is you."

Artemis thought this was all very strange but didn't say anything. Scorpius caught his reflection on a sign and pouted.

"Does my hair look okay? Someone patted me on the head and I feel like something is out of place."

"You're good," She replied and he beamed.

After the tall half giant man was sure everyone was there, he began leading them off the platform and to the edge of a river. Artemis kept on catching glimpses of towers and windows over the many trees that surrounded them and grew excited. That had to be Hogwarts for sure! Her dad had always said it was a big and magical castle and towers were the most important part of a castle, so there had to be a link!

At the edge of the river there were many boats, just drifting around in a little gaggle near the muddy floor. The half giant man got in one of the boats and cleared his throat.

"Six of yer to a boat, no messing' 'round! Might throw yer' out if yer' do," He said a matter of factly. Artemis was wondering what he meant by 'throw them out' but decided just to do what he said.

Scorpius picked a boat and sat in it with brilliant posture. The four of them scrambled in after him and put their trunks underneath the seats. Some of the boats already had six people in them and began floating across the colour changing water.

"There's only five of us here," Calypso stated, quite obviously. Artemis refrained from rolling her eyes and looked at her fingernails. "Where are we going to get another person to sit with us?"

"We could always look at the shore?" Vicky suggested. "If it even is a shore – Scorp, is it a shore?"

Scorpius shrugged. "It's literally just the ground."

Nate grunted, obviously annoyed. "Whatever it is, I'm sure -"

"Hello! Can I hop in with you lot?" A girl with bushy red hair and bright blue eyes interrupted them. She seemed to have rendered the group speechless so it suddenly up to Artemis to reply to her.

"Yeah, sure, there's space." She said, shuffling over.

The girl shot her a grateful look, got in the fantastically stable boat and sat next to her. They started moving once she was absolutely settled and found themselves behind the other boats in little to no time. Artemis noted that the boat had gone absolutely quiet and when she looked up, everyone was giving the new girl the side eye.

"I'm Artemis," She said, for the sake of conversation. "Artemis Moonley,"

The girl's eyes widened. "Oh wow! That's a lovely name."

"Thanks. What's yours?"

"Rose Weasley. I know, it's so plain compared and Artemis was an actual Greek Goddess whereas I'm just a flower people soak in water and give to each other at least once a year on Valentine's or Mother's day when they're out of ideas." She said in practically one breath.

Calypso tittered quite loudly and Rose looked at her, frowning. She was about to say something but Artemis spoke quickly before she could.

"Well, I like the name Rose. Having an unusual name gets annoying." She noticed Scorpius looking up in interest and decided to include him since the other three had sour looks on their faces. "Isn't that right, Scorp?"

"Don't even get me _started_ ," He started, already sounding fed up. "This one time, my mum and I went to France and all the wizards in Toulouse kept on pronouncing my name as Zorpeeyaz instead of Scorpius. Is it that hard?!"

Rose giggled. "So your name's Scorpius? As in the Malfoy?"

He nodded firmly. "Yeah, but don't worry, I'm much nicer than my dad was at this age."

Again, Rose laughed. Artemis sat in the middle of them wondering what on earth they were on about but kept up nonetheless. After a bit, the other three started talking among themselves, giving them the side eye every now and then.

"I can't believe I'm befriending a Malfoy!" Rose exclaimed. "My dad will be rolling over with fury if he found out. But you're not like the other Malfoy's, no offense to your parents and them but you know what I mean, right?"

Scorpius shrugged. "What can I say? I'm very... charming." He said smoothly.

"You weren't very charming when you were spitting out a smelly sock every flavour bean earlier." Artemis added in passing and his face coloured slightly while Rose laughed.

"Could say the same about you when you choked on the metal one." He shot back and she stuck her tongue out at him.

Just as Artemis was about to say something, someone up in a boat ahead screamed. A tentacle appeared right above them and sunk back into the water. Everyone rushed to the edge of the boat and peered into the bottomless pool of water. Their curious faces reflected back at them.

Then suddenly, someone shouted: "LOOK! IT'S HOGWARTS!"

Artemis caught her breath when she caught sight of the magnificent castle placed precariously on a crumbly cliff just across the lake they were currently floating on. Turrets upon turrets loomed over them, at first seeming like something straight out of a nightmare but the bright lights that glowed out of the many windows made it seem less frightening and more... comfortable. Artemis could just about make out the faint outline of what seemed to be gargoyles leering at the older students who were already emerging from the scary looking forest surrounding the castle and entering the school through heavy wooden doors.

"Wowsers!" Scorpius said, leaning forward on the boat a little bit. Artemis, who noticed that the boat was rocking slightly, gently pulled him back. "Would you look at that?"

"It's really big!" Rose gasped.

Someone snickered from across the boat and the three of them turned around. Scorpius busily adjusted his robes and his face settled into a bored look as he sought out the perpetrator with his eyes.

"Why are you laughing?"

Calypso flicked her blonde hair across her shoulder. "Well, _I_ was laughing at the Weasel - Oh I'm sorry, _Weasley_ over here. Hah, _'it's so big!'_ " She quoted and Nate smirked. "Of course it's bloody big, it's a castle."

Rose had gone bright red. "You -"

"She's not worth it," Scorpius said quietly. Next to him, Rose noisily cleared her throat and folded her arms, her face still red.

Artemis looked around the boat awkwardly, wondering where all this sudden tension had come from. There was an obvious divide, one that had probably always been there but was beginning to get clearer and clearer the longer they sat in silence.

"So, um, Rose," She blurted out in an attempt to ease the tension. "What are you looking forward to about Hogwarts?"

Rose immediately brightened up. "Oh! Um... Right now, it's being sorted into Gryffindor!"

Artemis was pretty sure she heard a 'typical' coming from the trio to the left of her but strategically ignored it. "Gryffindor..? That's one of the houses, right?"

She watched as Rose's face went through an array of emotions. "Artemis," She asked quietly. "Are you muggle born?"

"No, I just wasn't told about Hogwarts up until recently." She almost snapped, feeling really fed up with this question. Was she that ignorant?

"Oh. Oh okay." Rose sat up straight. "Well, there's four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. We get sorted into them based on our inner characteristics. Like people in Gryffindor are brave, Hufflepuffs are... nice? Ravenclaws are smart and Slytherins... well... they're ambitious."

"Ambitious and cunning," Scorpius added. "Don't forget we're cunning."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. And we're? You want to be a Slytherin?"

He shrugged, "You want to be a Gryffindor."

"That's because they're the best house!"

"Who said?"

"I said, silly!"

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"What does beauty have to do with anything?!"

"Simple: You find Gryffindor the most appealing, while my cohorts and I are more suited to Slytherin." He explained swiftly. "So, Artemis, which house do you like the sound of?"

She shrugged, wondering why he referred to them as his cohorts. "Ravenclaw. I'd like to think I'm smart."

"I see you in Gryffindor. You can be smart and still be in Gryffindor. My mum was a smart Gryffindor, in fact they call her the brightest witch of her age."

"My dad says she has the strongest backhand of their generation." Scorpius muttered and Rose beamed.

There was a flurry of noise just up ahead of them and everybody directed their attention to the front where the first few boats were hitting the edge of a lake. The giant man got out of his boat first and began helping some of the students onto the dry land. Their boat docked second to last, behind some excited looking boys who wouldn't stop laughing and pointing at everything.

"Hi Hagrid!" Rose hollered loudly once they were safely standing on the dirt. Artemis jumped slightly out of surprise but managed to collect herself before someone noticed and made fun of her.

"'Ello Rosie! 'Ow you doing there?" The giant man, Hagrid, said. He noticed Artemis staring at him and nodded firmly at her. "This yer' friend?"

Rose giggled. "Yeah, this is Artemis! Artemis, this is Hagrid, he's a friend of my parents."

"... Hello." She said awkwardly, wondering how she had gotten into this position she was in now. Where was Scorpius and his swift speech to shift the attention?

"Artemis!" Ah, there it was. "We're going in now!"

With a smile in Hagrid's direction, he grabbed her arm rather roughly and pulled her along. At the very last second, Rose latched onto her other arm and he ended up pulling the two of them along to the tall heavy looking doors in front of the school. There was already a stream of first years walking in, pairing off naturally. Artemis thought that the three of them looked quite out of place at first until she realised that there were other trios such as her new 'best friends', Calypso, Nate and Vicky.

They came into an opening just outside another heavy set of doors. The walls were covered from the bottom to what seemed to be the highest point of the castle in paintings, all of which were chatting along and ogling the small gaggle of students standing and looking around. The area was littered with staircases that were leisurely moving around.

"Why are the stairs moving?" She asked.

"They want to," Scorpius said, shrugging.

Well that explained that.

"Students! Quieten down please!" A high pitched yet scratchy voice came from the front of the group. Everyone hushed up and Artemis had to stand on her tiptoes to see where the voice came from. Luckily, the person probably realised that some of them couldn't see as he magicked up a box out of nowhere and stood on it rather proudly.

Artemis noticed immediately that the person she thought was a person... wasn't a person at all. He was a goblin like the ones in Gringotts, though he had a full head of hair and looked a lot happier.

"I'm Professor Fillius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw House and also the deputy head of the school." He introduced. His brown moustache twitched every time he said a word. "Welcome to Hogwarts, your new school and by default, your second home for the next seven years."

Artemis saw Nate make a rude gesture when he was certain Professor Flitwick wasn't looking and she decided that she did not like him at all.

"We will enter the Great Hall in a matter of moments, where you will be sorted into your houses and formally introduced to the school." He continued. "I hope you enjoy your time here at Hogwarts and become the best Witch or Wizard you can be!"

Upon finishing his small speech, Professor Flitwick got off the box he was standing on and went towards the big doors. He waved his wand and they opened up to reveal the Great Hall.

The hall was absolutely amazing. Candles hung from its open ceiling which looked like it stretched to the sky - wait, there _wasn't_ a ceiling. It was literally the night sky, with all the constellations present, shining brightly upon them. Artemis could see her namesake constellation among the clouds and wondered whether they closed the ceiling when it rained.

"Why is the ceiling open?" She whispered to anyone who'd listen as they walked past tables and tables of older students who were watching them carefully.

"It's a spell. The ceiling's made to look like the sky."

"So if it rains outside, it'll rain in here?" She asked, curious. Rose suppressed laughter. Artemis didn't know why: it was a completely valid question.

"Nooooo! But imagine if it did." She giggled.

They formed a little cluster in the front of the hall, just in front of a line of teachers who were watching them with solemn looks. Artemis peered across the hall, feeling nervous as she met the eyes of many of the older students. She relaxed a little bit when she saw Amoris and Emora Plena sitting down at a table wearing matching green and silver ties. Amoris was waving at her while Emora was looking disinterested at her nails. Next to them was a bright looking blonde boy that Artemis recognised but couldn't place.

"Welcome!" Someone said. Startled, she turned to the front.

In the centre of the teacher's table was a woman who was sat in a raised up seat. She had long silver hair, half of which was hidden underneath a pointed hat and wore a long shimmering robe that had no colour yet had all of them. Her eyes were old and weary but she was still smiling.

"Welcome," She repeated. "To Hogwarts, to both old and new students. First of all, I must let you all know that the forest is strictly off limits. There will be severe consequences to those who do not follow this rule. Secondly, this new fad of Pumpkining will not be tolerated this year and students caught doing so will be punished. The trophy room does get dirty rather quickly,"

There was a murmur of laughter and also of annoyance from the students. Artemis looked to the table the twins were sitting at again and tried to place their blonde... friend. She wasn't successful but she was definitely sure that she had seen him before.

"Lastly, I wish those who are embarking on the journey of N.E.W.T.S and O.W.L.S this year the best of luck. Now, the sorting."

She waved her wand and conjured up an old floppy brown hat on a stool. The students sitting down began to cheer loudly and Artemis wondered why: it was just a hat.

"That's the sorting hat!" Rose was whispering loudly at Scorpius. She looked so excited and he looked slightly uncomfortable as he absorbed her excitement.

"I know!" He whispered back even louder, perhaps mocking her.

From the front of the room, someone cleared their throat. Artemis began to focus and watched as the creases of the hat began to move like a mouth. Before she knew it, it began singing a song:

 _'You may think I'm dirty_

 _An old rag of a hat,_

 _But I'm the smartest hat around_

 _I'm as cunning as a rat!_

 _I can sort anybody_

 _The house you belong_

 _Keep still, keep quiet_

 _And listen to my song;_

 _You May be in Ravenclaw_

 _Where intelligence is their forte_

 _Or maybe in Hufflepuff_

 _Where happy you will stay_

 _You might be in Slytherin_

 _Who will lead you on your way!_

 _And last but not least Gryffindor_

 _Where you better behave!_

 _Have you listened to my song?_

 _Take my words with heed._

 _Now we've been to long_

 _Let the sorting proceed!'_

The hall burst into applause and the hat bent slightly as if it were bowing down. It was all a bit... much.

"Impressive," Scorpius said, clapping politely. He had a resigned expression on his face and looked utterly unimpressed.

"I _know,_ right?!" It seemed that Rose didn't quite catch his apparent sarcasm. He shot Artemis an exasperated look to which he was met with a shrug.

A woman with bright red lipstick and blonde hair came forward and held the hat, smiling like a pageant model. She pulled out a piece of paper from her green velvet robes and cleared her throat before reading out loud:

"Barter, Sylanius!"

Sylanius Barter was a girl with round glasses and dirty blonde hair. She gulped nervously and went up to sit on the three legged stool, waiting for the model woman to put the hat on her head. The hat nestled there for a few seconds before shouting a loud:

"RAVENCLAW!"

One of the four columns of students who all wore blue ties began to clap loudly. Artemis realised that they must've been the Ravenclaw's and made it her next goal to be sitting on that table too.

One by one, the first years went up and were sorted into their houses. A girl named Amelia went to Hufflepuff, a boy named Mim went to Gryffindor (Rose clapped loudly when that happened, and so did the Gryffindor's who cheered louder than anyone else so far) and another girl, Sarah, went to Hufflepuff. The already small group at the front began to get smaller and smaller as people were put into their houses.

"Flint, Nate!"

Oh this would be interesting.

The modelesque woman put the hat on Nate's head with a flourish. It shouted a loud:

"SLYTHERIN!"

"No surprise there," Rose muttered. Artemis just shrugged.

With a smug look, Nate went to join the Slytherin table which just so happened to be where the Plena's were sitting. It was obvious that they were the smallest house by a mile and they stared at Nate, apparently disinterested by their newest addition. He went to sit with a boy who had the same muddy brown hair and mean looking expression on his face so she assumed they were brothers.

Calypso was also sorted into Slytherin before it was suddenly Scorpius' turn. He smoothed his hair down, pried Rose off his arm and did his swaggering walk over to the stool. As soon as the hat came within a distance of his head, it hollered and shouted a loud:

"SLYTHERIN!"

Scorpius smirked, looking proud and walked over to the Slytherin table. He was met with a much better reception than Nate and Calypso as the Slytherin's congratulated him and actually looked pleased that he was there.

Artemis realised that since Malfoy was ever so close to Moonley on the register, she would be going up soon. Which made her feel all kinds of stressed out but she squashed the feelings before she started panicking.

"Moonley, Artemis!"

She breathed out through her nose and sauntered over to the stool, trying to appear calm. The model woman gave her a smile as her calculating green eyes met Artemis' brown ones. She looked across to the Ravenclaw table and saw a boy who looked strangely familiar frown at her and whisper to the people he was sitting with. Then the rim of the hat flopped over her eyes, making the whole world turn a musty brown colour.

The hat did nothing. She sat there and waited for her Ravenclaw destiny to be announced but it said nothing.

"Hmm... This is the trickiest case I've seen in years." The hat mumbled all of a sudden. "If I've got to go with one, I'd say Ravenclaw but something is shouting Slytherin about you as well."

Artemis was desperately thinking of the Ravenclaw's and almost willed the hat to read her mind and choose them. She was aware that she had been up there for a while now and could tell that the other students were beginning to get restless since there was an increase in the amount of whispering in the hall.

"Which would you say you'd want more, knowledge or power?"

She shrugged and mumbled back: "Aren't they the same thing? Knowledge is power and power rules the world."

The hat let out a laugh. "Well, that is the mind of a ... SLYTHERIN! At least if I ever saw one."

Well then.

The hat was yanked off her head, as polite applause filled the room. She made her way to the Slytherin tables, feeling odd and slightly displeased.

"Artemis!" Amoris hollered as soon as she got within a distance of them. "Welcome to the Slytherin's!"

"Hi, Amoris... Emora." She greeted. One of them beamed while the other gave a nod. Artemis sat next to Scorpius.

He gave her a high five. "Together forever! Or at least for another seven years!" He said and laughed at his own joke.

Vicky was sorted a few moments after and came to sit over next to Nate. Everything went smoothly after that: The boy Artemis bumped into on the train was called Albus Potter and he went to Gryffindor, followed by Rose. They actually seemed to know each other already and were constantly chatting about something. There were only four other Slytherin's apart from those she knew: Charlie, Frank, Cornelius and a girl named Penny, who seemed to have a constant frown on her face. She was making signs at someone at the Ravenclaw table and Artemis could relate.

As soon as the sorting finished, they all sang the school's anthem from a big piece of parchment with the words on them. Artemis didn't even sing, she just peered at the lyrics and wondered what the heck was going on.

The feast started straight after. Food appeared on the empty dishes and serving platters and people cheered before digging in. Artemis, who was a big fan of potatoes, felt quite happy when eating her mashed ones.

"Er... Butter beer." Scorpius said to his cup. She was about to ask him what he was doing before frowning as she watched it fill up with a frothy drink.

She looked at her own cup and gulped. "... Lemonade." It also filled up immediately with clear lemonade. She sniffed at it before taking a sip and being surprised at how good it was.

This wasn't ordinary lemonade, she decided. This was magic lemonade.

When she looked up, she met eyes with the blonde guy sitting next to Emora. His eyes were dark and very cold. He sized her up, looking at her up and down and frowning as he did so. She was just about to ask him if there was something the matter before he relaxed and looked towards Amoris with a bright smile and started a conversation with her.

"How are you feeling Nate?" Calypso asked out of the blue. She was smiling around deviously which enhanced the pug effect of her nose.

"Everything's good and all," Nate replied, almost robotically. Artemis could tell they had planned this little conversation and were probably going to humiliate themselves. "But I've got one question!"

"What is it, Nate?"

"How on earth did Artemis get into Slytherin?" He asked.

"... The hat put me here." She said as if it were obvious and he was missing a few brain cells. Which he probably was, but she didn't want to go there. Not today. "Why?"

"You're not a Slytherin," He sneered.

"Why am I not a Slytherin?" She asked, feeling quite attacked. She'd only been eating her potatoes, blimey! Why was he trying to make her more of an outsider when she practically felt like one already?

He turned his nose up. "I dunno, you seem a bit… Hufflepuff."

Vicky and Calypso dissolved into laughter like it was the funniest thing they had ever heard in their lives. Artemis rolled her eyes and put her fork back into her mashed potatoes.

"And you seem like an idiot," She snapped. "Oh wait - you _are_ one."

Scorpius choked on his drink and began laughing. Nate's face went a brilliant shade of red and he fumed towards her, looking so unbelievably angry that she was sure he was about to burst. Artemis smiled smugly at her food and asked for someone to pass over the gravy.

To her surprise, the blonde boy with the cold black eyes passed it over to her. He was smirking as if he had heard the whole thing and nodded at her approvingly.

"Thanks," She said awkwardly.

"No worries." He replied with a voice like silk.

Next to him, Emora bit her lip. She looked as though she was going to say something but decided against it in the end.

After eating quite a lot, they were dismissed. The first years had to follow after a prefect and Artemis found herself right at the front with Scorpius, Penny and Cornelius while the others lagged behind, eventually until they were very far away. The prefect didn't even seem to care as he led them past the moving staircases and down to a darker area of the school.

"These are the Slytherin dungeons, including the dorm rooms, study rooms and common room." He said with a bored expression when they reached a painting of a man with dark hair sitting down. The other older students were going in through the door with ease.

"What's the password?" Penny asked.

"Er, Tartarus. As in the pit in the Underworld." He sighed when he saw Vicky, Nate, Calypso and now Charlie, coming around the corner. "Tell those lot if you care." Then he went in through the painting too.

"What? What did he say?" Vicky asked.

Artemis decided that she didn't particularly care and followed after the Prefect into the Slytherin common room. It was very pretty and she found herself feeling very fond of all the green. It was her favourite colour after all, and the silver detail on all the furniture complimented it quite nicely.

The others followed in after her and once again she found herself sandwiched between Scorpius and a very anxious looking Penny.

"So, your dorm rooms are up the stairs. Boys are third door to the right, girls same but to the left. Those will be your rooms until you graduate." The Prefect said and then walked away, leaving them to explore.

Artemis went straight for the bookshelves, Scorpius flanking her right side. The books were all unfamiliar to her but then she could distinctly remember some of the titles in the bookstore in Diagon Alley.

"Wait a second," Scorpius said, pulling out one of the books with a frown on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I went to Diagon Alley and bought ALL these books when Hogwarts has..." He counted the spines "NINE copies here already - I could've just borrowed these ones! What the bloody hell am I to do with them after this year's over?"

"Dunno, keep it?"

"Keep it for who? Keep it for what? Do I look like I hoard books?"

She cracked a smile as he shoved the book back into the shelf. They moved on to the table in front of the fireplace where Penny was sitting with her arms folded.

"Oh, hello," She said when she noticed them.

"Hi," Scorpius said. "You look like you don't want to be here."

"A bit blunt," Artemis noted. He shrugged.

"He's right," Penny said. "Well, I _do_ want to be here, but my mum hates Slytherin. I'm scared she'll be angry if I tell her I'm not a Ravenclaw like my sisters."

Scorpius began to nod like he was a therapist. "And does she compare you to your sisters a lot?"

"All the time!" She looked very distressed. "It's always ' _Penelope, why can you not be more like Madeline?'_ or _'Penelope, why are you so troublesome and not as quiet as Abigail?'_ in my house and I just want to be my own person."

Oh wow.

"Well, it seems like you're own person now," Artemis muttered out loud before she could stop herself. The other two looked at her with interest and she inhaled. "I mean, you're a Slytherin. That's as individual as you can get at this point."

"Huh. Good point." Penny bit her lip. "What's your names again? I know _you're_ a Malfoy because well… yeah, but you?"

"I'm Artemis Moonley."

"And I'm _Scorpius_ Malfoy." He corrected. "You're Penelope and not Abigail or Madeline I presume?"

Penny actually smiled. "Penny Winchester. Nice to meet you two."

The three of them looked around at each other awkwardly for a few moments before Scorpius cleared his throat.

"So we'd better get up to our rooms," He said, looking at his watch. "It's just passed nine and I don't know about you two but I'm tired as heck!"

"Same! The train journey was so long!"

They walked to the stairs together, chatting about everything they had seen on the train ride over. Once they got to the two separate staircases, they said their goodbyes

"See you whenever!" Scorpius said and made his way up the stairs rather calmly.

Their room was quite brightly lit. There were four single beds with four poster bed frames and silver curtains covering them. Artemis was quick to claim one of the beds by the window and heater since it was the perfect blend of warmth and coolness. She watched as Penny went for the one adjacent and disappeared behind her curtains.

"They're so fluffy!" She emerged a few seconds later, holding a pillow. "Look how fluffy! Wow, my sister's never told me about this!"

Artemis smiled and went to check out the fluffy pillows for herself.

And yeah: they were pretty darn fluffy.

 _thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed or favourited this so far! I really appreciate the response :-]_


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